Minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures have become more common using robotic (e.g., telerobotic) surgical systems. An endoscopic camera is typically used to provide images to a surgeon of the surgical cavity so that the surgeon can manipulate robotic surgical tools therein.
A surgeon's focus is typically on the tissue or organs of interest in a surgical cavity. He may manually move the endoscopic camera in and around a surgical site or cavity to properly see and manipulate tissue with robotic surgical tools. However, when the endoscopic camera is manually moved inward so that tissue is at desired magnifications, typically a narrow field of view is provided of the surgical cavity by the endoscopic camera. Tools or tissue that are outside the field of view typically require the surgeon to manually cause the endoscopic camera to move to a different position or manually move the camera back out.
Sometimes the endoscopic camera is slightly moved left, right, up, and/or down to see a slightly different view or slightly moved out to obtain a slightly larger field of view and then moved right back to the original position to the desired magnification to manipulate tissue.
Sometimes a surgeon may have to initially guess which direction to move the endoscopic camera to position the tissue and/or tool of interest in the surgical cavity within the field view of the endoscopic camera.
A more efficient use of the endoscopic camera may also make surgical procedures with a robotic surgical system more efficient.